Thursday, October 2, 2008

Soyrizo Empanadas for a Week

I made this recipe once before and really enjoyed them. It is a perfect recipe since you can make enough for a dinner and a week's worth of lunches. Although they are best right out of the oven, they do warm up nicely in a microwave if needed.

I really like to integrate whole grains into my cooking, so I used half corn flour for the shell. Not all corn flour is whole grain, so if you would like more nutrition, make sure you are buying the whole grain variety. In general, using half whole grain flour in a recipe works really well since you get the nutrition from the grains yet the white flour allows the lighter texture often desired. For breads I would recommend using Whole Wheat Flour. For pastries, Whole Wheat Pastry Flour works great. There is also a Hard White Whole Wheat Flour which I use for my pancakes, biscuits and much more. I love this flour! Spelt, Barley and Kamut flours can also be used in this way.

For the insides, sauté the onion, peppers and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté until everything is soft. Add the Soyrizo and seasoning and cook it all until warm.

For the shell, combine the flours, salt and baking powder. Make a hole in the middle and add the oil and then the water on top of that. Mix with a spoon or spatula until all combined. Sprinkle the counter with some of the white flour and place dough on top. Start kneading the dough, adding more flour as needed. About 1/4 - 1/2 cup more of flour will be used for this process. After kneading the dough about 2 minutes, separate it into 6 pieces. Knead each piece of dough separately about 30 seconds each. Let this dough sit for about 10 minutes so it can relax.

When the dough is ready, take a piece at a time and spread the dough with your fingers to make a circular shape disk slightly bigger than your hand. With the dough over one hand, use the other to fill the middle with the Soyrizo insides. Fold the dough over and press the sides together. Place the prepared empanada on a greased baking sheet. Repeat this step with the rest of the dough to use all the Soyrizo to fill the shell dough.

Bake the empanadas at 375°F for 25-30 minutes, or until just beginning to brown. Makes 6 empanadas.